


your shield and shelter

by kassandra_divina_trevelyan



Category: The Wayhaven Chronicles (Interactive Fiction)
Genre: F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Injury Recovery, Light Angst, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-20
Updated: 2020-09-20
Packaged: 2021-03-08 01:14:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,683
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26557198
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kassandra_divina_trevelyan/pseuds/kassandra_divina_trevelyan
Summary: Guilt.Twisting around in Detective Roxy Kingston's chest like a dagger when she stared at the broken body of the man she cared so deeply for in Nate. While lying with him, she makes a promise to protect him as equally as he protects her, not to fail him, and Adam realizes that he might have gotten Roxy all wrong. (Nate Sewell x f!Detective)
Relationships: Female Detective/Nathaniel "Nate" Sewell
Kudos: 15





	your shield and shelter

Eyes trained on the ceiling of Nate’s bedroom, Roxy listened to the rhythmic melody of a sleeping Nate’s breathing as her head laid adjacent to his chest. Every sucking rattle elicited a wince from her, accentuated with a pang of sharply bitter guilt. She wished she would’ve experienced the eclectic design that screamed Nate Sewell under more fortunate circumstances than this, but she saw no benefit to complaining. The botched rescue mission to recover Sanja from the trappers achieved the goal, but at the unfortunate cost of Nate sustaining brutal injuries. Roxy would never be able to forget the dread smothering her when she cradled an unresponsive Nate to her chest or how she threw three vampires away from her when they kept her from staying by his side. She failed to protect him, but she was here to stay.

Nate asked her to stay, so she did. It was her fault he was here.

She didn’t fathom how to feel when numbly trailing after Adam, who walked with confident and urgent strides over to his room. The doctor had called them, and whereas Adam launched with a question to the good doctor, Roxy had felt the words choke up in her throat. Guilt turned her stomach, threatening to spill the non-existent space and the pitiful sips of water Felix requested she try.

However, lying beside Nate, Roxy forced her eyes close when the stinging pricks of tears. Guilt planned on having its way, and she believed that she deserved it, in earnest. Nate already drifted off to sleep, guided from his pain with the soothing influence of medication. Careful not to disturb the peace of his bruised, injured body, she gradually rolled onto her side so that she might examine what she could of his face through the bandages. He told her that he wished she wouldn’t see him this way and her patchwork heart, surrounded by a wall of thorns and sown together with the clumsy sutures of her inexperience, cracked in two. She chose the mission like he wanted her to, yet she felt regretful of her decision.

“Nate, I know you can’t hear me, but that’s okay. Seeing your face, bruised and bandaged but alive, comes as a relief. However, this was too close of a call, and I want to come clean to you. I know I haven’t been the most forthcoming with outright admitting what I want from you. I flirt a lot. I dance around the subject while conveying my interest, toeing the line between honest and evasive. But that’s because I think you deserve a lot more than I am. But I would gift you the broken pieces of my heart so you might decide, ” Roxy whispered to Nate, not expecting him to stir from his much-deserved rest but needing to get the weight of her chest so she could breathe. She felt crushed when staring at his broken body from putting his life on the line. Their line of work was dangerous, and she would never tell anyone how scared she was to lose Nate. Her hands trembled when considering the alternative, and she felt sick. Falling apart because of not knowing whether he lived or died was not a sensation she experienced often. She needed someone to care about more than her own life, and Nate walked among the few. So used to being hurt, she shut the world out, and somehow, Nate managed to slip past her defenses. He made her care about him from the moment he held out his hand and greeted her with hello. Roxy hesitantly brushed his face with shaking hands before leaving it resting on his chest. She laid her head down and felt her eyes growing heavy, “I can’t let you get hurt again, Nate. I can’t. I promise that I will do everything in my power to protect you the way you protect me. Just know that I will be your shield to defend you against threats and your shelter to offer you a safe place in my arms. I plan to find the courage to say this to you when you’re awake, one day soon.”

In the main room, Felix and Mason waited for any news to return and rose from their seats when Adam returned to the room without Roxy in tow. They were far from surprised to see him return alone. None of Unit Bravo missed the Nate-esque way Roxy paced the floor with thinly veiled worry weighing her down. Their closeness and unabashed flirtations were no secret either. To them, the outcome that Nate and Roxy romantic affections would lead to something more was inevitable. It was a matter of time.

“How is he?” Felix inquired immediately, barely restraining the nervous energy pinging around his mind and managing to squeak out one question instead of a flurry of questions. When returning to the Warehouse, Nate’s condition was- it was terrible. In the years that Felix or Mason knew Nate, they never saw him in such a fragile state and the sight of Roxy thrashing against Adam’s grip with the hint of tears brimming in her eyes and feral growls when she was refused her desire to follow.

“The doctor said he should recover by tomorrow, given that Nate follows all her instructions. He’ll be okay.” Adam relayed, and the good news caused Felix to slump on the couch in relief, and even Mason looked less concerned knowing Nate would come out alright. He had a reputation to maintain, which meant his concerns about his friend lay hidden behind his gruff exterior. Speaking of the doctor, Doctor Tuft walked into the room with the expectation of briefing Agent Kingston and the other members of Unit Bravo as to Agent Sewell’s condition.

“Agent, I didn’t think you would finish your visit so quickly.” Doctor Tuft blinked, hardly able to keep the surprise from her voice. She glanced between the three and observed that the detective was missing, recalling she went up to the room with Agent du Mortain.

“I wanted to give Detective Kingston a moment of privacy, Doctor. The others needed to be informed about the updated status.” Adam explained coolly, crossing his arms over his chest.

“Ah, I see.” Doctor Tuft brushed away her bright pink hair that had fallen into her eyes and fiddled with her folder, holding the medical records of Agent Sewell. She did recall giving him some medication for pain, which might induce sleep, which he desperately needed for his recovery. “Agent du Mortain, do you think you might retrieve her as Agent Sewell’s medicine should be kicking in, and his rest is paramount to his speedy recovery?”

“Of course,” Adam replied, and he watched Doctor Tuft nod and respectfully leave the room. He expected that Mason or Felix would fill Rebecca in if she came back during his absence. Wordlessly, he about-faced and marched through the door in silence, heading back to Nate’s room. The distance was short, having him outside Nate’s door in under five minutes. Standing outside, Adam knocked a single, confident knock three times with no recognizable acknowledgment or answer to his knocks. So, he decided that was sufficient warning of his approach. 

Opening the door, Adam expected to see Roxy and Nate chatting or flirting, the latter a stronger prediction than he willingly would admit. However, he stopped in the doorway at the sight of Nate asleep, and Roxy curled into his side. Nate’s arm, covered in bandages, rested above Roxy’s head as her face nuzzled up against his rib region. Their legs were tangled together from their closeness, showing how Roxy clung to him as much as she could without disturbing his injuries.

Nate’s face conveyed peace, but the smile on his lips likely came from Roxy’s presence. As for Roxy, Adam noticed the faintly damp glimmer on her cheeks of what he might assume to be tears. He should- Adam rubbed at his face, met with a dilemma. He thought about waking Roxy up and bringing her out of the room, but the possibility of disturbing Nate stayed there. He knew his friend, although excellent about listening to doctor’s orders, would protest Roxy leaving.

In the peace of the bedroom and witnessing the peaceful scene of Nate and the detective wrapped in each other’s embrace, Adam understood the annoying jolt in his chest as a pang of regret. Over what? After the Detective’s ex, Felix blabbed about how Roxy overheard whatever he and Nate were speaking about. He and Nate realized that she heard some of their conversation where he questioned if she was worth pursuing something. Adam hated admitting he was wrong, but that never meant he wouldn’t do it.

He was starting to think he was wrong about Roxy.

This incident aside, Adam had never seen Nate so blissfully happy, and the feeling seemed reciprocated by the detective. His disapproval never seemed to stop them, and perhaps nothing could. Maybe his friend stumbled upon the kind of love that moved mountains, parted seas, or would tear open heaven and earth to survive? If anyone deserved such a love, it would be Nate.

Humans were fickle creatures, something he understood firsthand. He knew well of their shortcomings and flaws, and he made no secret his distrust toward their kind. Roxy knew this from all their arguing slung back and forth, often with Nate stepping in to play peacemaker. The thought seemed borderline impossible, but Adam figured that, out of all humans, Roxy might be the one who changed his mind about them. 

Adam knew he had a decision on his hand and, before he could bring himself to regret it, he stepped backward and gently shut the door behind him. He closed himself off from Nate and Roxy, sleeping and unaware of his presence in the room. Turning away, he sighed and walked away from Nate’s bedroom while listening to the soft hush of his footfalls on the carpeted flooring.

Just this once, he would ask the good doctor to leave them be.

He was going soft, wasn’t he? 


End file.
